The stakes are high for Adar Poonawalla’s Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer by volume, as it has already produced 40 million doses of the potential Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine and is beginning production of a few others. So far, no adverse effects have been reported during trials in India. The SII has announced the completion of the enrollment of participants in phase 3, which is also the final phase of the trial.
But this is not the end. The Pune-based pharmaceutical company will soon move to produce other vaccine injections.
In an interview with Washington Post, Adar Poonawalla has revealed that he has put 250 million dollars from his family fortune. In the interview, Adar has said that his father, Cyrus Poonawalla, known as India’s king of vaccines, was one of the first critics to doubt that putting in that much money would not be a big gamble. “He said, ‘Look, it’s your money. If you want to blow it up, that’s fine. ‘ Adar Poonawalla recounted his father’s first reaction.
In the interview, Adar has also broken two myths about vaccines: one, there will be a successful candidate vaccine that will guarantee immunity for a defined period of time, two, the world will be immunized two, three years. He said it won’t be done until 2024 and there won’t be a single vaccine. The period of immunity that a vaccine could ensure remains obscure, Adar has said.
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Adar decided to do everything possible. According to his plan, after Covishield (the Oxford vaccine), there will be at least one vaccine every trimester. The Poonawallas have also introduced a new company: the Serum Institute of Life Sciences, which will focus on research and development.
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